


"Shhh"

by RyanIsMyNamee



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Autistic Character, F/M, Meltdown, autistic percy, takes place in the year skip i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-22
Updated: 2017-06-22
Packaged: 2018-11-17 05:54:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11269290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RyanIsMyNamee/pseuds/RyanIsMyNamee
Summary: Vex and everyone else are ready for a meeting about the running of Whitestone, but where was Percy? Vex goes off to look for him. Where could that man be?





	"Shhh"

**Author's Note:**

> I will headcanon autistic percy always and forever ok  
> im just an autistic kid myself who loves to project on my faves  
> didnt edit this and im not a great writer ? so it might suck
> 
> ryanismynamee.tumblr.com  
> hmu if you wanna chat about nd or lgbt vox machina bc heck yes

It was time for an important meeting with Cassandra and the others helping to revitalize the recovering Whitestone, and yet Percy was nowhere to be found. It had been around 15 minutes since the meeting was set to begin and usually Percy made a point to be on time for these things. Vex figured he must have gotten caught up in his tinkering and quietly excused herself from the meeting to go find him.

Once outside the room Vex called out for him over earring.

“Percy! Percy, its Vex, remember that meeting today? Where are you?”

Upon an absence of reply Vex headed to his usual spots to try and find him. She first went to Percy’s workshop where she thought it was most likely that he was. She knocked on the solid door firmly.

“Percy? Its Vex.”

No response. She went for the handle only to see the door was unlocked. She poked her head in. The workshop was dark and any fires were extinguished. She spied unfinished disorganized parts of what is probably a new project scattered across his work table which Vex thought was unusual.

Usually when Percy is done working with something he at the very least organizes his desk if not putting things away. She goes over to the work table to investigate and feels a strike of concern when she sees his glasses sitting among the twisted metal bits and bobs Vex doesn’t understand. Vex pockets Percy’s glasses and continues her search.

She runs into Vax on the way to the castle foyer.

“Brother, have you seen Percival?”

“No, he’s not in his workshop? That’s where he normally is.”

“No, I just checked there. I was going to head over to mine to see if he’s working with Tary or something.”

“Sure, I’ll keep an eye out, Stubby.”

Vex continued with her search over to her own home which had just recently been finished. Percy had been spending time over there recently, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for him to be here. She went down first to Tary’s workshop.

“Hey Goldie, is Percy here?”

“Uhh nope not right now. He popped by earlier but didn’t stay long. Seemed a bit frustrated, I think his current project isn’t going well. Have you checked his workshop, maybe he’s working on it?”

“No, I already checked there, but thanks Tary.”

“No problem Vex, have a fantastic day!”

And Vex continued on. She quickly went upstairs to check her room and her library incase Percy had been there for some reason, but saw no evidence he had been there. Though as she left her new home she gained an idea. She had only checked the workshop and the area around the meeting room in the castle, perhaps she should give the rest of the castle a more thorough search before heading into town.

She entered back into the castle and started to plan her search. She started by trying to think of the places Percy frequents and where he would likely be. She rules out the places she had already checked, and she assumed he wouldn’t be in the library or any reading or study area without his glasses. She checked his room first.

She knocks first to be polite

“Percy? Are you in there? Its me.”

No answer. Turns out the door is unlocked so she steps in. It’s dark, the curtains are drawn and all lights out. Percy is not currently in here, but a quick sweep of the room to Vex’s perceptive eyes reveal something strange. The heavy navy blanket that usually is on Percy’s bed is absent. Perhaps it had gone to cleaning? But that didn’t make sense either since all the linens and other laundry were still here.

She quietly sat on the side of Percy’s bed and thought. She had thought that Percy was inside the castle, but where would he be if he couldn’t answer the earring? Why did he not take his glasses? And then a possible answer to the first question hit her and she immediately went to investigate.

She surprisingly didn’t run into anyone on her way down through the castle until she was faced with the hallway down. It still made her nervous going down below the castle considering what they had all been though down there and the ziggurat and enigmatic spinning orb that still remained within. She steeled herself and continued.

She reached the threshold of the anti-magic ziggurat room and nearly retreated to search somewhere else, convinced that this thought was stupid, when she saw it. A bundle of thick navy fabric squirming against the wall of the ziggurat.

“Percy? Is that you?”

The bundle shifted at the words but no response came. Worried, she approached the bundle.  Upon closer inspection, the bundle was merely the shape of a person with a blanket wrapped around them with it covering their head. Seemed to be Percy’s approximate size and shape.

“Percy it’s me, what’s going on?”

She heard a hiss from within the blanket. She lifted the ‘hood’ of the blanket to see a glasses-less Percy hunched over sitting cross-legged on the hard floor, his hands covering his ears. She reached to touch one of his hands but he yanked away from the touch violently, towards the stone wall.

“Shh Percy, it’s just me, Vex. What’s wrong darling?”

She made an effort to be quieter, as if trying to calm a wild animal. Percy just continued squirming, hands pressed against his ears. On closer inspection, he seemed to be alternating rocking from side to side and forward and backward. His behavior was troubling to Vex. In all the time they spent together he had never acted this way. She quickly tried to run through spells in her head that could have possibly hurt Percy, but also that didn’t make sense since they were in the anti-magic room.

“Percy wh-“

Vex tried to speak up once again but Percy had placed his index finger against her lips in a ‘shh’ symbol. She nodded, understanding and mimicked the ‘shh’ hand symbol against her lips to show she won’t speak anymore. Percy nodded back. Percy looked back down towards the ground, but his eyes were unfocused, as if staring into space. He resumed his rocking pattern, squeezing both the blanket and his coat tighter around him.

Looking closer at Percy he seemed quite disheveled. His shirt was wrinkled, looking like it had been yanked at, his ascot was untied, his coat was off his arms, and draped over his shoulders under the blanket. Unless she was mistaken, a look at Percy’s eyes made it look like he’d been crying. The crumpled handkerchief sticking out from his vest pocket basically confirmed this.

Vex pulled Percy’s glasses out that she’d found earlier and offered them to him. Percy stopped his movement momentarily to take them and put them on, blinking and wincing, getting used to being actually able to see things.

He looks at Vex, finally able to really see her. He takes a moment to sit and breathe and look around. His rocking largely stops. His hands are down from his ears, but one thumb is pressed against his lips. Vex has seen him do this before, when deep in thought on a project. She’s not sure why, but has never thought to ask.

Vex looks at him and points at her mouth with a questioning look on her face, silently asking if she may speak. Percy makes a ‘shh’ hand at his mouth but nods. She gets it. She can talk but quietly.

“Percy are you alright?”

He nods.

“Are you sure?”

He nods with more sass, seeming to insinuate ‘oh course I’m okay’.

“Can you speak?”

He pauses at that, and looks away as to think. It takes him a moment as he sits and wiggles his jaw, but at last he turns back to Vex and sighs and shakes his head. He then snaps his head up, he has an idea. He gestures as if writing to Vex, then starts patting his pockets, assumedly looking for something to write with.

Vex searches herself and finds a pencil in her pouch while Percy manages to find a scrap of parchment. He snatches up the pencil and begins writing. Vex waits impatiently, wanting to really understand what was happening.

After a few moments of writing he hands the paper to Vex to read. His handwriting is not nearly as neat as she is used to seeing, but is still legible.

‘Sorry you had to see me like this. I don’t like it either. Things were going wrong and it just got to be too much and I couldn’t handle it. Down here no one would bother me. Down here it’s quiet. This just happens sometimes. Try not to bother anyone with it, it will pass. Please be quiet and refrain from touching me, my head is still pounding and my skin still feels bad. The weight of the blanket helps.'

Vex reads and thinks the message over.

“So you’re sure you’re okay? I was worried when you didn’t show up for the meeting and no one knew where you were.”

Percy gave a small sheepish smile. And rubbed his neck. Vex knew he did that when he felt bad or guilty about something.

“Percy it’s okay. It’s not your fault. It’s okay now. We can always reschedule the meeting. Your wellbeing is more important to me.”

“And darling, please, you need to tell me about things like this, or I won’t know what to do. Please promise to talk me through this when you can speak again alright?”

Percy rolled his eyes at Vex’s motherly tone but nodded his head. He trusted Vex more than anything. She was probably right.

“Percy, can you get up? I think we should go back to your room if you’re feeling well enough. This place gives me the creeps.”

She looked behind at the swirling black ball hovering in the center of the room. Percy nodded. Vex got to her feet first and helped Percy get to his rather wobbly ones. He pulled the blanket back over his head and tight around his body and nodded towards the doorway back to the castle. Vex nearly reached out to grab his hand, but quickly remembered how Percy had previously flinched from her touch and refrained.

They quietly passed through the castle underground and through the castle proper without issue until they reached Percy’s room. Once inside Percy removed the heavy blanket and coat from his shoulders and sat on one side of the bed. He pat the other side with his hand inviting Vex to join him. Vex hopped up, careful not to touch Percy, until he pulled her close to cuddle.

Now seeing that it was okay to touch, she gently touched the side of Percy’s face and kissed him gently. The skin was rough and peely from where Percy had apparently been chewing on his lip.

“You scared me darling. I’m glad to see you’re okay now though.”

Percy kissed her in response. He swallowed, coughed, and wiggled his jaw some more before mumbling into Vex’s neck.

“I love you.”

His voice was rough and barely a whisper but Vex appreciated being able to hear it finally.

“I love you too, Percy. You still have to talk about this later.”

He made a sound in the affirmative, still not ready to use his voice too much. He curls up against Vex’s side and it’s not long before he drifts off to sleep. Vex doesn’t doubt that he’s exhausted. She pets his hair the way she knows he loves as he naps soundly beside her.


End file.
